Investors trace market fluctuations at an FPT stock trading floor in Ha Noi. — VNS Photo Thai Ha

HA NOI (Biz Hub)— The VN-Index on the HCM City Exchange failed to overtake the 600 mark yesterday despite hitting the barrier twice during trading, closing slightly up at 596.83 points.

Still, the benchmark index has been posting gains for eight consecutive days, marking a four-and-a-half-year high.

The VN-Index mainly received support from Vinamilk (VNM) which rose 2.7 per cent at VND4,000, or $0.19, per share yesterday to reach VND150,000, or $7.17.

The other blue chips which posted gains yesterday included the Southern Rubber Corporation (CSM), the Da Nang Rubber Corporation (DRC), Masan Group (MSN) and the PetroVietnam Transportation Corporation (PVT).

However, nearly half of the stocks of the VN30-Index package closed in the red yesterday. The VN3-Index dropped 0.12 per cent to end at 668.39 points.

According to FPT Securities, the Prime Minister's approval to the derivatives market project and the Government's determination to resolve bad debts with the establishment of a steering board enhanced investors' confidence yesterday.

A significant sum of more than VND2.9 trillion, or $138 million, was traded yesterday on the exchange of nearly 164 million shares.

After reaching 600 points, the VN-Index slowed down due to the increasing pressures of profit-taking in the afternoon trading, narrowing the gains made in the morning trading.

Overall, 124 codes on the southern bourse added value yesterday and 120 codes lost value.

The FLC Group (FLC) led the bourse by liquidity with more than 9.95 million shares traded yesterday, followed by the Tan Tao Group (ITA) with 8.84 million shares traded.

There was high liquidity on the Ha Noi Exchange with roughly 120.9 million shares traded.

The total trading value touched VND1.18 trillion, or $56.19 million.

The HNX-Index advanced 0.34 per cent to finish at 84.43 points, while the HNXFF-Index, composed of stocks with a minimum free floating rate of 5 per cent, added 0.56 per cent to end at 84.54 points.

Tracking the northern bourse's largest stocks by capitalisation and liquidity, the HNX30-Index finished at 169.99 points, rising 0.5 per cent over Thursday. — VNS